Discussion

New Butcher/food store in Etobicoke

After shopping for food stuff my wife and I were passing Medium Rare at 5241 Dundas St. West in Etobicoke (http://www.mediumrare.to/home.html). I’ve been waiting for this joint to open for some time. A few months after the fridges where installed I saw no new action at this location, in fact I thought they would not open. After two cows where placed on the roof of the building I knew that they would open at some point.

The place is mainly about meat, organic chicken, beef, pork, homemade sausages, Berkshire pork, Ontario lamb, etc… They also make their own sauces, prepared foods, all in house. In the back of the store is a window that looks into the fridge where Strip loins, T-Bone steaks, and are resting waiting to age further. The colour is a very deep dark red, almost purple, which is a very good sign. There is a great deal of interesting prepared foods, both fresh and frozen. They have organic/free range chicken on sale for, if I’m not mistaken for $2.95 pound for a whole chicken.

Unfortunately my wife and I just finished food shopping and did not purchase anything. But when our present food supply dwindles down I will check out the store. This place looks like it could be a very good food store.

Yes, they do dry age their beef, which is almost purple in colour through the glass, they look rather good. The fat is an off white, and there is some decent marbling, at least what I saw from my brief look. I can't eat beef, so I'll never know how good they are, but to my eye they look good.

The Ontario lamb is corn feed, I’m unsure what the difference between grain, corn and grass fed lamb. I do know that there is a difference with beef, so I assume that same would apply to lamb.

The chicken is very white in colour, no hint of yellow. The owner told me that the chicken is organic, which will tell in the flavour. I asked where the chicken is from and was told north of Bowmanville so I believe.

Of course there is no ice anywhere, which adds to the cost and also waters down the meat. I really wish I knew they where open, that way I would have checked them out before purchasing chicken and pork from Whitehouse meats.

Also, looking at the web site they are selling and I quote “Kansas City B.B.Q. Pork, Memphis B.B.Q. Ribs, Texas Brisket! (This is the first time authentic southern B.B.Q. is being made in Toronto for you to take home and heat!!!)”. So I’ll check this out very soon.

I've puzzled over the roof-top steers for some time and wondered when/if the doors would ever open. Now I wonder how long they'll stay open. That's a grubby strip of Dundas W for upmarket product. I'll try 'em this week but question whether they'll weather the stormy economic waters and the downmarket pressures.

Was a little early for ribs today, but despite that I took a whole rack of side ribs and finished them at home. Threw them into the oven for about 30-40 minutes, then cut 4 ribs off and then placed some butter, maple syrup and BBQ sauce over the rest of the ribs and allow them to bake at 250 for about 30 minutes more. I have food allergies so I’m not keen on eating BBQ sauce unless I know 100% of the ingredients. So I did not have any Medium Rare BBQ sauce.

These are side ribs not back ribs, and they where smoked using hickory. Now I’m not a fan of hickory I find it to overwhelming, but that’s my opinion. In the past I always preferred side ribs to back ribs, but since eating Lykn Chicken ribs I now prefer meaty back ribs, meaty meaning not cut close to the bone.

The smoke ring is quite visible, it is a bright pink-red colour. The flavour of hickory is quite prevalent, more so than the pulled pork from Sweet Smoke. The meat is so rich in hickory flavour that there is not much else to taste. Even after sitting in butter, maple syrup and BBQ sauce the flavour of hickory is quite prevalent. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, it just that I find hickory like a very young red wine.

The cost is the only negative thing that I have to say about these ribs. I though $20.00 for a full rack is expensive. Now the smoke ring and smoke flavour are there, no question about that. It just that I have eaten ribs in restaurants bbq or grilled, served with a starch and vegetable, and I don’t have any clean up for less money.

I almost forgot, there are serving cooked frenched pork chop, I believe from the rib section of the loin cut, with a simple garnish covered with chaud froid. Unsure of the cost or the flavour, but what caught my eye was the use of chaud froid, I’m not aware of anyone in Toronto who is doing this. I thought this was a very nice touch!